POLICE patrols have been ordered outside Sheffield schools to prevent revenge attacks following an 18-year-old’s murder.

Officers stood guard outside school gates across the city yesterday, due to fears of retribution and outbreaks of violence in the wake of the murder of Abdulla Awil Mohamed.

Children leaving Parkwood Academy in Shirecliffe after the school bell yesterday afternoon filed past police officers and community support officers, who had been stationed on Longley Avenue West.

Youth workers have been seconded into schools to help pupils affected by Abdulla’s murder.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “There is a multi-agency plan in place to increase visibility in schools and provide support to young people who may be traumatised following this incident.”

The teenager died after being hit by a car on Coleridge Road, Darnall, last Thursday evening.

The same night mobs of youths clashed across Darnall, with incidents reported on Staniforth Road, Ribston Road and Nidd Road.

Detectives are investigating tensions between groups of youths from different backgrounds, and are also examining possible links to skirmishes at Parkwood Academy and in Firth Park in the run-up to the murder.

An appeal for calm has been issued by police, community leaders, and councillors whose wards cover the Darnall and Burngreave areas.

Chief Superintendent Simon Torr, Sheffield’s District Commander, said it had been agreed patrols would be sent to schools in a bid to prevent possible clashes between students.

He told The Star: “We will be patrolling outside some schools where there is a potential for tension.

“We will be having various meetings with partners this week and we will be working in schools.”

He has also ordered an increased police presence around the crime scene in Darnall and in Burngreave, where Abdulla lived.

“We have had extra officers on patrol in Darnall and Burngreave, and partners including Sheffield Futures and street-based teams worked the weekend too,” he said.

“A young man has died and there is a sense of shock at that, but people want to help - we have had some really good support from people.

“I have been delighted with the response from the community - it would appear the appeals for calm have been heard.”

He said special Section 60 powers - allowing officers to search anyone they find on the streets of Darnall - had so far not been needed.

“It was calm over the weekend - we had reassurance patrols and did not need to use stop and search powers because there was nobody on the streets,” he said.

Coleridge Road, which remained cordoned off by police for most of the weekend while forensic work was carried out, has since been re-opened.

Four men appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court yesterday, charged with murder.